NGC 6857 and a 'Clipped' Tulip

[Mike Lewis]

This area of the sky greatly surprised me with all the stuff going on. I was trying to frame this to have the Tulip Nebula (Sh2-101) in the right of the frame but it ended up a little cut off. But in exchange I captured some amazing extra nebulosity in the left side of the frame. Data collection was complicated by a problem with my autofocuser that would not allow me to run automated autofocus sessions. I had to manually bump the focuser in small steps to reach critical focus, and then check in periodically to make sure focus had not drifted too badly. If it needed to be refocused I had to interrupt the data collection and repeat the focus bumping. Kinda like hand focusing in the 'old days'. I guess we are all pretty spoiled these days, aren't we!

NGC 6857 is an H II ionized region in Cygnus, and shows in this image as a white patch approximately along the midline of the image 1/3 from the left edge. It is the target I originally slewed to but is arguably one of the least interesting portions of the final image shown here. I especially enjoyed the very small PK70+2.1 Planetary Nebula that shows up in the image, very small but unmistakable. See the link below to the image on Astrobin for an annotated location and the ability to zoom in on it.

This region was imaged in Hα and Oiii emission lines, with RGB data added for the stars. The imaging sessions took place around the new Moon at my new dark sky remote site and that helped my capture some faint details. Image follows, and for an even larger rendition see: https://astrob.in/aoxvm6/0/

I must say it sure is nice to FINALLY have the ability to collect astro data more regularly. I am still working through issues at my new location, but I am hopeful I will get it all sorted. And I am starting to really appreciate how dark it must be down there...Thanks for looking and all comments and critiques are welcome.

ML

Location: Starfront Observatories https://starfront.space/)
Equipment:
Poseidon-M Camera @ -5C and
Gain:125 Offset:25
Astro-Physics Mach2 Mount
Williams Optics Cat 91 Refractor, 448mm @ f/4.9
Antlia Pro Filters (3nm narrowband plus RGB)
Askar FMA180 Guide scope with ASI290MM

Software:
Pixinsight Commercial Version 1.9
Lightroom CC
Photoshop CC
N.I.N.A. Control Software
BlurXTerminator (Russell Croman)
StarXTerminator (Russell Croman)
NoiseXTerminator (Russell Croman)
Astro-Physics APCC and APPM

Light Frames:
Gain 125 / Offset 25
Hα: 24 x 600 secs (4 hrs)
Oiii: 24 x 600 secs (4 hrs)
Red: 29 x 120 secs (58 mins)
Green: 30 x 120 secs (1 hr)
Blue: 29 x 120 secs (58 mins)

10 hrs 56 mins total

Dark Frames:
10 x 30 secs (5 mins)
10 x 600 secs (1 hr 40 mins)


ML

 

[JimFox]

What a sweet image Mike! I really like the look of this with some Oiii scattered in.

I wish I could afford to setup my rig down at Starfront. Maybe one of these days. I know it's not too expensive really, but I have a few bills to pay off first. Maybe in another year.

What's the issue with the AF? Any solution in sight? Sometimes I think the biggest thing I did to improve my astrophotography was to get an autofocuser!

 

[Mike Lewis]

Jim,

Thanks for the comments. Yes, the addition of an autofocuser is transformative, at least when they work. I have never had a moments trouble with any of the 3 I now own, until a couple days ago, when the one located at SFRO in TX decided to start throwing stall errors anytime it would be asked to move more than a couple of steps. I was able to brute force it into good focus while taking this data, but it was a hassle for sure. I just heard back from the guys at the site saying they are going to be taking a look at it soon, maybe even today. In spite of all that though I am very happy with this image (other than the less than perfect framing...)

ML

 

[Mike Lewis]

For those interested, wanted to add a close-up detail showing the tiny little Planetary Nebula I captured in this image. The detail shot shows it, and you can see from the surrounding where it is in the larger image. It is a testament to the quality of the current star removal post processing tools that it was not accidentally removed in post processing...

ML

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Beautifull image, Mike with all the colors and textures.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Beautifull image, Mike with all the colors and textures.

Thanks Jameel! I was originally taking this data as test data to try to track down some guiding issues, but once I started messing with it I quickly decided I had to collect morre data and make a proper image out of it

ML

 

[Andy Elliott]

Another interesting area of sky you have there Mike. Loving all what's going on here. The image on Astrobin really does it justice.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Another interesting area of sky you have there Mike. Loving all what's going on here. The image on Astrobin really does it justice.

Thanks so much Andy, this area wasa big surprise to me. I started taking just for guiding testing purposes, but once I saw what was there I decided it could make a very interesting image.

ML